IZON SHŌ
Chapter XXXV
Thirty fifth session
She had one last paragraph to correct, she had revised it, and revised it again, yet she still wasn't happy with it. In the end, she reminded herself that albeit she would have written it differently, her job was to edit it, not to rewrite the entire story; she had done quite enough already by explaining better and more in detail the fundoshi matter. A smile appeared on her features when recalling InuYasha's face when she made the request, then she licked her lips almost unconsciously when to her memory came the way in which the cloth was see-through, same cloth that was now resting on a chair. She looked behind her, there he was sleeping and seemingly comfortable on the futon. His head laid slightly leaning towards his chest, creating the sensation of seeking safety. His breathing had a calm rhythm to it, it was soft and that gave the impression of rest. She felt moved by his sleeping childlike features, and was completely aware of the way in which emotion took hold of her chest. She liked him, and not just because of how beautiful his body was, of how well some things looked on him, like that improvised fundoshi; she liked him because he made her happy.
Definitely, this which she was feeling had to be quite similar to being in love. She was an adult woman and knew what feelingless desire was, and she also knew that by accepting InuYasha as an exclusive couple, she was experiencing a different road to the one she'd walk until now.
She sighed, too tired as to philosophy about life at this late hour.
Returning to her laptop's screen, she attached the file to a mail with her boss's address, clicked the send button and stared at the screen until the confirmation of the mail having been sent appeared, and she felt relieved and free. She had finally finished that urgent labor and that meant she could take a break for a couple of days, or that had been what they offered her if she managed to finish in time, at least.
She turned off the device and stood up. The blanket she had over her shoulders fell then, and she felt how her chest warmed when she recalled how InuYasha had placed it on her before going to sleep. The temperature had dropped a few degrees and he took one of the blankets that were on the futon, leaving it on her shoulders, rubbing her arms as his actions were accompanied by:
Take care not to get cold.
After that he asked if she wanted him to prepare some tea, and she could only think about snuggling into bed with him and sleep, lulled by the warmth of his embrace. Once she declined his offer and made it clear she was fine, InuYasha finally accepted going to sleep. That had happened a couple of hours ago.
She stretched up high, then bending low to touch the floor with her hands. Then, she turned her gaze to the window, noting early morning had taken the night a while ago, only hoping she could catch some sleep before the sun were fully out. Her steps took her to the kitchen then, where she filled a glass with water and drank. Her movements were the only sound that could be heard inside the apartment, and if she stood very still, she could even hear his breathing.
Next, she went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth, trying to make as little noise as possible, and did her usual ritual before sleeping.
When she finally managed to slip into the futon, she did so after taking off her blouse and keeping only her panties on. She sought InuYasha's embrace, felt his warmth and the way in which he received her.
"Were you able to finish?" She heard him ask, his voice still muddled by sleep.
"Yes, it's done." She wrapped herself tighter in his arms.
"I'm glad." He muttered as one of his legs found place over hers, as if seeking to get her even closer. Her body's warmth was gratifying.
In that moment she found herself thinking in something she had decided a while ago, when she had but a bit left to finish her work.
"InuYasha?" She inquired, wanting to check if he was still awake. He heard him making a speculative sound. "I'd like to go to your mother's house with you."
The declaration had sounded even solemn, and Kagome hoped to hear a happy answer from him, yet she only found silence and had to accept she'd been too late, and that he probably didn't even hear her.
He'd been sleeping at Kagome's apartment three nights in a row now, and despite feeling quite alright when he was with her, his back was missing his own bed. The futon was great for their sessions of sex, you couldn't fall off the bed, there weren't noisy springs of a mattress; it was a delight. However, when it was time to rest, for his body it was a whole different story, or so he felt.
He extended his right hand to one side, seeking his phone to check the hour, given that sunlight was already starting to slip through the window without curtains. He tried not to move too much, for Kagome was almost entirely on top of him and he didn't want to wake her up. When he found it, he turned the screen on and furrowed his brow before the sudden light. The clock marked seven past ten in the morning. He could also see he had a message from Shiori, which called his attention.
Could we meet tomorrow? Was the question there, written around two in the morning.
The truth was he had plans of sleeping in his apartment tonight, and that plan included bringing Kagome with him. His morning was already relatively planned as well: to sleep until he got hiccups. Then they'd eat and he'd go to his night shift. They still had to reach an agreement on how she was going to get into his apartment; maybe he would have to give her the keys.
He stared at the message, not knowing what to answer. He guessed he'd be able to meet for a while after work.
"What's the matter? Is it morning already?" She heard Kagome's voice and felt her fumble about, trying to hide her face from the phone's light.
"There is barely any light outside. Sleep, don't worry." He left the phone aside and hug her again.
"Today is Saturday, right?" Her whisper hit his chest.
"Yes." He caressed her hair, sinking his fingers until he reached her head. Through his ears came a pleased sound.
"Today you were going to make me breakfast." She reminded him.
InuYasha laughed, and let that smile make its way up high. For a moment he allowed himself to feel the happiness of being in love, fully, without fears nor expectations; in that moment, he could almost assure he'd just held hands with love itself.
He sighed and closed his eyes, caressing with his cheek the top of Kagome's head, still resting almost entirely on his body. Both were naked, except for her panties.
"When are you going to take them out?" He asked, slipping a finger between the undergarment and her skin, only to pull at the cloth and then release it, allowing the elastic to slap lightly as it returned to its place.
"Ay." She complained without any real energy, and added with muddled voice, "Tomorrow, I guess."
He noticed how she stuck closer to his body, and his hand found place beneath her panties, resting on her hips, feeling the warmth of her skin. After that, he closed his eyes.
After they woke up, they stayed on the futon a while, sharing one of the episodes of the show InuYasha was watching, and that through the previous days he'd explained to her what it was about. They chose to also share the shower, what brought them a moment of pleasant sex without stains; something Kagome felt grateful for. Next, he began to prepare a breakfast that felt more like lunch, for both of them thought that given the hour, it was for the best. As he prepared the tamagoyaki, with calm so that the egg thickened well, just like he'd explained to her, she looked at her emails and checked that she was granted the two-days break that she'd been offered in exchange of the previous urgent job.
"I've got the days." She encouraged herself to say.
He looked at her sideways, not distracting himself from the task at hand.
"Very well." Was his short answer.
"If you show that level of interest, I may be inclined to think you are not thrilled by me going with you." She wanted to joke about it, despite feeling a bit insecure inside.
InuYasha's phone vibrated on the table then, and she managed to see the notification: message from Shiori.
Who was Shiori? The question was left wandering her mind.
"You have a message." She told him. He looked at her in that instant, and seemed to think of something.
For a moment, he felt like being discovered doing something. Then, he reasoned to what degree was he entitled to explain himself to Kagome; they had a life before they met, and even before deciding to become exclusive to each other. However, he concluded he ought to give what he expected in this relationship, so he pushed himself to talk.
"Can you read it to me? I've got my hands full." He pointed at the food with a nod.
She seemed to get surprised, and he returned his gaze to what he was doing in order to allow her time to think.
"I don't want to." She declared with certainty, and when he glanced at her, she was slipping the phone away from her.
"Why?" The question came as slightly amused. The message couldn't contain anything too compromising after all.
She looked at him, and he could almost read the perplexity on her features.
"Because I don't know who she is." She wanted to sound ironic, maybe a bit too much. InuYasha confirmed then that Kagome, the same as him, had her own uncertainties to deal with.
"That I can tell you myself, without a problem." He was amused by the pure disinterest she was trying to show, something
"Well, maybe I'm just not interested in knowing." Her answer was almost visceral, brought forth from that same emotional point inside her stomach. "And besides, you have a right to me not knowing everything."
"Oh, alright. I'm ok with that." He continued with his labor, not saying anything else.
The phone vibrated again on the table, announcing a new message from Shiori. Both of them caught each other's gazes and began a battle in which InuYasha's smile kept widening, as Kagome furrowed her brow in a clear expression of anger. Strangely, this was become a sort of test for them.
"I hate you." She ended up saying as her hand reached for the phone. She looked at the screen and discovered she couldn't do much more. "I don't know how to unlock it." she said.
He made a gesture with his index finger on the air, and Kagome emulated it on the screen, the barrier giving way to her. In that moment he recalled he had her picture as a background image, and could see the surprise on her features when she discovered it.
"Wow." She muttered, not adding anything else.
Then he waited, his gaze fixed on the making of the tamagoyaki, wanting the egg roll to turn out great, more than anything because he was cooking it on a round pan, and because it helped him center his attention, away from the restlessness he felt before the result of that moment of trust he was sharing with Kagome. He heard her taking a deep breath, as if she were getting ready for something, and although he wanted to turn and look at her, he held back.
"I see it's not the first message this beautiful young lady sends you today." He heard her say. "Also, she writes to you already in the early morning."
"I guess she does it when she needs to." He mentioned, trying for her to discover on her own the shade of their conversations.
"I read you." She limited herself to say, her voice neutral. "Eleven to two in the morning: Can we meet tomorrow?" The neutral tone seemed steady. He looked at her sideways. "Seven past eight in the morning: please, answer." She continued, "Twenty-two to nine in the morning: Are you really that busy? I saw you read the message." In that moment their gazes met, and she went back to the phone. "Twenty-three past ten in the morning, ten minutes ago: You are the only one that can help me with this."
Kagome dropped the phone on the table and remained silent. He'd finished the tamagoyaki, and placed it on a plate, to then bring it to the table to share it. The phone vibrated again with a message, and before he could reach it, it was already in her hands.
"Twenty-one to eleven: I need you." Kagome took a deep breath as she glared at him with an intensity he didn't know about, then released her breath and voiced, "Alright, I think I want to know who Shiori is."
They were walking through one of the many streets connecting the building Kagome lived at, with InuYasha's, and they were bound to go to his apartment for him to change clothes before going to work, although he'd first meet with Shiori at a coffee shop that wasn't on his way.
"What do you think she wants to tell you?" Kagome asked with a certain shyness that didn't seem quite her own.
"It's probably something related to the boy she had been dating." He guessed.
He'd told her about how he met the girl, and the way in which she had found a friend she could ask for advice in him.
"And why does she seek you to talk about these things?" Kagome insisted, her gaze away as to not meet his.
"I explained she only considers me her friend." Now it was his time to insist. He wasn't so naïve as to not know where she was going with that question, yet he wanted her to speak it out loud in her own words, so that she could hear herself.
"She must have some other friends, or girl friends." She manifested; her gaze still away.
"She is sure to have some." He accepted. The coffee shop was quite close now.
"I refuse to think you don't get it." She turned towards him again, and throw the phrase out with determination as she halted her own steps.
"Get what?" His expression was calm, and his gaze focused on her.
"Oh, please." She took two steps forward, as if wanting them to be on their way. She turned around when she noticed he wasn't following. "You won't make me say it."
"Don't say it, then." He conceded, knowing Kagome was prone to lose her patience, even more when he could understand her. Deep inside, he had the sensation it was some kind of fighting spirit in her that couldn't understand how a couple could agree on their different perspectives.
He heard her take a deep breath through her nose, as if hoping her anger was obvious to him. InuYasha brought out his apartment's keys from his pocket, and extended them to her. She just stared at his hand, and at the jumble of keys for an instant, only to return to his eyes.
"I'm going with you." Kagome declared.
"That so?" The situation had taken a bit of a turn. It wasn't confessing what he expected, although in a way it seemed to do so.
"That so." The determination in her decision was clear through the tone of her voice. "If I can go with you to see your mother, I can present myself in front of a girl friend." The last word left her lips in a higher pitch.
He shrugged and stepped past her.
"Alright then." He tried to seem unperturbed, although he could notice a strange sensation inside his stomach, climbing to his chest, a mix between restlessness and sheer emotion.
He perceived Kagome's fingers grazing his hand, as if wanting to hold it while they walked, only to shy away from the contact. InuYasha glanced at her through the corners of his eyes, and caught her hand with his.
When they were in front of the coffee shop, he pulled the door open and tried to leave her way, yet Kagome stood still in place, looking at a point on his shoulder.
"What's wrong?" He asked. Kagome hesitated an instant, and he thought he heard her click her tongue.
"I think it's not a good idea for me to enter." She said, without much details, and almost without inflection. He tried to glimpse something in it, and found it impossible.
"Don't want to meet her anymore?" His question made a bridge for her to add context to her new decision.
"Actually, I didn't want to from the start. Now, I'm just manifesting it now." She started to say. InuYasha let go of the door. "She expects to see you, I don't think it's a good idea for you to appear with me." She dropped her gaze to the ground.
It was hard to analyze what was happening. For one part, he could understand Kagome wanted to make sure of something, however he couldn't know if that something had to do with her trust in him, or in herself.
"InuYasha." He heard his name from somewhere behind him, it was Shiori.
"Oh, hi." He answered, a bit hesitant given the scene. He thought that, after all, events would align themselves in their own way, beyond what they desired or had firmly decided. "I thought you'd be already inside."
"No, I've just arrived." She said the obvious, although it was clear it was due to how absurd his affirmation had been.
"Shiori, this is Kagome." He chose it was better to introduce them, and see what happens.
It was clear the ambience had tensed. Kagome overcame it immediately, and InuYasha couldn't help thinking something as simple as meeting a friend had turned into some kind of baptism by fire.
"Hi." Shiori smiled, seemingly at a loss of what else to say.
"Hi." Kagome brought out her voice and made a soft bow in greetings. "I was saying goodbye to InuYasha." She mentioned, then turned towards him. "See you later."
"Of course, but..."
Her smile widened.
"See you later." She insisted, and turned towards Shiori again. "I wish you a good day."
With that said, she turned around and began to walk away.
To be continued.
A/N
Here we are with a new chapter. Remember when I told you there were only a few chapters to the end?
I lied.
Not really. The truth is there is not much left, in my head at least, yet as I keep writing I find myself enjoying the details, and as I narrate them I realize what is left to be told keeps being delayed, waiting for its turn.
Thank you for reading, commenting and keeping me company in this adventure that is to create.
Anyara.
This text is possible thanks to the translation of: Dezart
